The top 8 schools from the recently-concluded Milo U18 Football tournament are to benefit from continued competition opportunities with the launch of the Guyoil/Tradewind Tankers League, which occurred on Tuesday.
Guyoil’s Berkeley McCalman presenting the sponsorship cheque to Petra’s Troy Mendonca in the presence of Assistant DoS Melissa Dow-Richardson, MoE’s Kurt Braithwaite, and GFF’s Bryan Joseph
Although the coronavirus pandemic had hindered their mobility, the Petra Organization have continued to roll out their string of schools’ football tournaments with the launch of this latest competition being at Guyoil’s Providence, East Bank Demerara office, where Petra Co-Director Troy Mendonca explained why the league format was chosen for this particular tournament.
“We’re proud and happy that even after two years, Guyoil and its partners, Tradewind Tankers, have delivered to the football fraternity a sponsorship that will only enhance the sport,” Mendonca began.
“The format of the tournament, the league format, is the most important and critical competition in any football calendar, and it forms part of, and completes, the structure that we at Petra, hopefully in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Sport, and the Guyana Football Federation, hope to deliver a solid school football programme in the near future.”
Guyana Football Federation Acting Technical Director Bryan Joseph emphasised the benefit the tournament would have for player development.
Joseph explained, “This is the type of contribution that we want to make to the player development clock of our players. Our challenge has always been that we haven’t been able to afford our young people enough competitive matches, because the entire development of the game was structured around clubs only.
I’m happy that we’re back in the schools, and our boys and our girls are having these opportunities.”
The acting TD went on to state about the organizing body, “I also heard you mention the next phase, which will be the international aspect of it; and I’m glad that you’ve gone into that depth to ensure that the Petra Organization is contributing significantly to the development of our young players.”
In brief remarks, Guyoil’s Bulk Sales Executive Berkeley McCalman disclosed that the entity didn’t think twice about facilitating their third tournament.
“With things returning to normalcy and our commitment to making a positive contribution to the development of our youths and community, there was no question on whether we would have come on board for the third time,” McCalman shared.
Meanwhile, Assistant Director of Sport, Melissa Dow- Richardson, made a point about the cooperation needed to fuel sport in Guyana.
Dow-Richardson remarked, “This particular tournament is an excellent demonstration of collaboration across multiple sectors. Here it is we have Government support, we have the National Sports Association responsible for football, and we have corporate Guyana supporting a local organising entity in a powerful way.”
The Guyoil/Tradewind Tankers League will be run from September 18 to November 6, 2022. The winners would walk away with $500,000, while the team placing second would reap $300,000; third place $200,000, and fourth place $100,000. The prizes would be given in kind, and not cash.
The participating schools will be Milo Champions Christianburg Wismar Secondary School (CWSS), runners-up North Ruimveldt Multilateral Secondary, Golden Grove Secondary, Dolphin Secondary, President’s College, West Ruimveldt Secondary, Cummings Lodge Secondary and Friendship Secondary.
